DIY landlord rental cheap

[Perp]

I feel like I get told one thing, the owners get told something else, and the PM gets all the knowledge while the other parties get whatever parts the PM chooses to disclose - or not disclose.

Oh, you're singing my song there. It infuriates me so much trying to get accurate information about what's going on.

I remember in the mid 90s I was renting in the ACT and my townhouse was put on the market. The first I knew about it was an agent knocked on the door at 8am on Saturday and asked if they could have an OFI that morning. They got a firm "no". I said they could have one weekly if they wanted, but they didn't arrange that. Then I got phone calls at work about once a week for the next three months, asking "can we come and inspect now?", or "can we come and inspect in two hours?". When it suited me, which was admittedly less than half the time, I'd agree.

Eventually a new selling agent was appointed. He rang us up, explained that the property was for sale, and politely asked what could be arranged with regard to OFIs. We arranged weekly OFIs and extras on 24 hours notice. He was rapt, and then told us that the owner had been told that we were nightmare tenants who never allowed access. I told him that I was busting to tell the landlord what a useless agent they had!

The property was sold to an investor within a couple of weeks. It was delightful to have the "old" agent ring our doorbell one Saturday morning at 8am again a few weeks after the sale, asking if they could have an OFI that morning, and be able to tell them "the vendors appointed a new agent and have sold the property, goodbye".

 

[NotAllPMsRBAD!]

How many properties do you manage and how many new tenants would you find each year?

Cheers

Pete

In my current job my rent roll is quite small as the business is starting up.... however up until 18 months ago... i worked for 3 years where the total rental roll was 800+ and my portfolio was 250 (with no assistant which is why i left! 80-90 hours a week was killing me!!) and before that 9 years with a company had a rent roll of 1000+, my portfolio was 200.

As for how many new tenants i would find each year......it could be anywhere from 5-15 per month depending on the time of year and the market...

 

[Minx]

Actually, as the landlord, I am not interested in getting any more than I am prepared to pay for and am quite prepared to pay a fair amount for the work done. Whilst my mum just paid $506 to an agent who literally fielded one call, I don't believe that is fair. However, she was happy to pay, as there is no other choice as the newspaper adverts are as good as useless.

Because this agent was taking the week's rent plus GST, mum did allow her to do the checks and prepare the documents. The checks done were employer checks, no leaving the desk and filling in the lease form. We took over from there. However, we do this all the time, and were quite happy to have that one phone call and do everything else.

If the agent had been prepared to accept, say $125 for simply fielding the call, it still would have been very good pay for the five minutes that the call took. I actually approached this PM's boss, a family friend, to see if he would take a small fee to simply list it, but he offered instead to do it for the usual week's rent plus GST. I understand that perhaps he was risking a backlash from the big site and we were happy to go ahead under his terms.

I hope this newly discovered site lives long and prospers.

Was the one week rent negotiated prior to the agent accepting to place the advertisement?

Whilst it may seem unfair that the agent made that much money for one phone call, it would have been unfair if the agent made $125 and fielded 25 phone calls. I suppose that is why business deals are negotiated up front. In this case, the agent probably received less interest than anticipated and got the cream. If you had say 50 calls directed to the agent, you would of been better off.

 

[wylie]

One week is pretty standard for those agents who do casual letting. And I am really not fazed to pay it, because (until now) the only other alternative was the newspaper, and it seems not many people are using the newspaper.

I don't really begrudge the agent because it is swings and roundabouts. Mum's latest tenant was literally found in one phone call, and so the week's rent was the cream on the top for the agent, and good on them. They are happy, mum is happy. But we will be happier still to be able to field that phone call ourselves and only pay $125.

I am just glad that we now seem to have an alternative.

 

[firstmillion]

Try Gumtree

Hi,

I have used gumtree very effectively. have found 2 of my best tenants through gumtree and its free. You could have saved $125 as well

http://melbourne.gumtree.com.au/

Cheers

 

[jaycee]

Not all property managers are good either. Does wanting to do my own management mean I have a "bad attitude"? I don't agree.

And you would have to agree that some of the stories on this forum of how properties are managed by "professionals" leave a lot to be desired, would not not?

That was rather a cheap shot.

Not a "bad" attitude... the "wrong" attitude

Possibly due to headwear worn at time of posting

 

[wylie]

Not sure what you are saying. Are you wearing something funny on your head? Alfoil.... or a headband?

 

[wylie]

Hi,

I have used gumtree very effectively. have found 2 of my best tenants through gumtree and its free. You could have saved $125 as well

Thanks for the tip. I have used Gumtree a few times, but over Easter we had a house for rent and had a chap from Nigeria pick up our information and post his own advert, using a photo from another advert. He got $500 from one chap and four others that I am aware of who twigged before they sent any money. I was amazed that there are still people who would send money to Nigeria and not think that strange, though he did spin them the "I am out of Australia on business, back next week, send the money to me and I will hold the house for you" story.

I was more amazed when I saw the advert (one lady kept her emails and sent them to me, and I sent them to the authorities and Gumtree) where he was advertising a house for rent for $120 per week. I couldn't believe someone would not think that was extremely cheap rent .

It was rather a mess and I would be very careful next time, if there is a next time. The people were able to phone me because he used the address in his made up advert, and we had a "for rent" sign on the fence with our phone number, so our sitting tenant had a cranky chap knock on her door one morning wanting to know who the owner was.

After I spoke to him, and he realised we were not the scammers, he was much calmer, but it was a worry, especially for the young female tenant who was home alone at the time. We used to put the address in the advert so people could drive past and only contact us if they liked what they see. No more.

I know that the same thing could happen from any advert from the big sites, but I just think Gumtree caters to a different crowd, plenty of backpackers, sharers etc, so perhaps less savvy and open to being conned.

 

[firstmillion]

Thanks for the tip.

I know that the same thing could happen from any advert from the big sites, but I just think Gumtree caters to a different crowd, plenty of backpackers, sharers etc, so perhaps less savvy and open to being conned.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Gumtree is a good resource though.
Cheers

 

[Pablo]

Thats a great service, I'm definately going to use it next time.

Looking at their listings I find it amazing that so many landlords only go for 4 weeks bond and not 6 weeks when they're entitled to it.

 

[oh_noes]

Thanks for the info/recommendation! I will be using this service.

 

[ErikTyler]

A new tenancy will generally involve 15-20 hours worth of work when it is done properly. The condition report alone will take me 5 hours to do (granted this can be done a lot faster but i like to be very detailed and take 50-100 photos for each property)

5 hours for a condition report???? I'd be very, very surprised if it really took you that long.

I'm speaking from experience - we maintain a very large rent roll, and I'd be shocked if it took my PM's more than 1 hour to conduct an inventory and condition report (including photos and transcript)

 

[ErikTyler]

In my current job my rent roll is quite small as the business is starting up.... however up until 18 months ago... i worked for 3 years where the total rental roll was 800+ and my portfolio was 250 (with no assistant which is why i left! 80-90 hours a week was killing me!!) and before that 9 years with a company had a rent roll of 1000+, my portfolio was 200.

As for how many new tenants i would find each year......it could be anywhere from 5-15 per month depending on the time of year and the market...

80 - 90 hours a week!!!????

I'd like to offer you a job! I'm currently clocking 72 hour weeks, as the principal of the agency, and it's absolutely killing me. I'm ex Army, so I'm used to long hours, but 72 hours is ruining me completely.

If you're able to do 90 hour weeks (ie 8am - 9pm, 7 days a week, or 8am - 11pm, 6 days a week), then I'd love to have you on my team.

 

[NotAllPMsRBAD!]

5 hours for a condition report???? I'd be very, very surprised if it really took you that long.

I'm speaking from experience - we maintain a very large rent roll, and I'd be shocked if it took my PM's more than 1 hour to conduct an inventory and condition report (including photos and transcript)

True story.... obviously it would depend on the size of the property, a 1BR unit would only take 1-2 hours start to finish, 3-4 BR house would take 4-5 hours. But as i said i like to be very detailed and believe that the CR is the most important document of the tenancy and i take 100+ photos. It means i very rarely loose at the tribunal infact i save myself time not even going because tenants see very clearly the orginal condition of the property.

80 - 90 hours a week!!!????

I'd like to offer you a job! I'm currently clocking 72 hour weeks, as the principal of the agency, and it's absolutely killing me. I'm ex Army, so I'm used to long hours, but 72 hours is ruining me completely.

If you're able to do 90 hour weeks (ie 8am - 9pm, 7 days a week, or 8am - 11pm, 6 days a week), then I'd love to have you on my team.

Lol i dont do those hours anymore, am down to about 65 now, it totally destroyed my life at the time, i would be working 7 days a week and during the week would often be until 1-2 am. It was a VERY high maintenance rent roll with high maintenance tenants and landlords, thank god i am out of there now!! I am actually starting to feel human again!

 

[jackula]

Hi sorry for bringing back such an old thread. I will become a diy landlord next week, is there a standard condition and inventory report I can download for my tenants to sign? Do I need their passport, birth certificate or drivers license? And other than the Vic tenancy agreement, will I have all the forms covered?

 

[oh_noes]

I recently put up some property by myself and thought I'd share my experiences.

The Ad itself
Take open, clean and conside pictures. Please don't create 'REA' 300x200 pixel photos with blurring content. Or a single picture of the front of the house. This reeks of an old lazy 60 something PM who has zero motivation for her job.

I personally kept the ad clean and simple. Mentioned the properties features and nearby facilities.

Advertising
I originally went to domain.com.au and advertised directly. Please do not do this if you are in Brisbane. For $300 I got 30 hits and zero phone calls. Biggest waste of money but a great learning experience.

Then I found landlordschoice.com.au. $150 and it was put on realestate.com.au and hundreds of hits per day. Roughly 2-3 calls a day. Awesome!

Inspections
This is where I learnt the most. Before you even put the advertisement online or in the newspaper, determine your inspection dates and times and stick to them! If a prospective cannot fit into an available time, it means they arent motivated enough.

Choosing an Application
Landlordschoice offers a tenancy database check. Other criteria I went off was salary and other monetary assumptions. Such as cars, clothing etc. My current tenants had an acceptable stable job (public service) but was also the type who was mid-20-something with a $40,000 car loan. I thought was this perfect as he was outside of the 18-19 irresponsible-ness yet was still bound by the rat race.

Finalizing Application
Don't forget to ask them to bring Password/License, and photo copy it.
Fill out the RTA forms and bond lodgement forms online inside the PDF (don't print then handwrite). It makes it easier to read/understand.

Additional Lease Criterian one can enter include the tenant to have carpets steam cleaned with receipt provided upon exit. But I'm sure theres a host of info available for this on the net.

It was pretty easy. This is far from complete but I thought at the very least I could post some feedback. It's not that hard. And remember, PM's do a 3 day course (Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's just as hard as our uni degrees), so if you have a few hours free, aren't scared to learn a couple things and it's NOT as hard a PM would like you think.

 

[Dazz]

And remember, PM's do a 3 day course (Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's just as hard as our uni degrees)

Ow. Now there's a low blow.

Our PM's in WA are way more professional than that. They do 5 full days during the course, and sit the 2 hr exam on the sixth day. It's tough going, not any ol' flippety gib 18 yr old wet behind the ears secretary can pass the course on the first go you know.

I suppose that is why WA Landlord's get charged so much for PM fees, cos our PM's are twice as professional and far more knowledgable.

 

[rprodrive]

Good to hear other people have used this service - I successfully rented my property DIY with landlords choice. Very happy with the responsiveness and service. They did the tenancy database check quickly - all good.

Think I saved about $800 by DIY and whilst it did cost me a few hours in terms of opens for inspection etc - it was well worth it.